The present invention relates to an upper vehicle-body structure of an automotive vehicle provided with a sun roof, and more specifically relates to the upper vehicle-body structure of the automotive vehicle provided with the sun roof, in which a sun roof opening is provided at a roof panel arranged between a pair of right-and-left roof side rails extending in a vehicle longitudinal direction, right-and-left side edge portions of the sun roof opening are spaced apart from the right-and-left roof side rails, respectively, a center pillar extends downward from the roof side rail, a rear edge portion of the sun roof opening is positioned rearward from the center pillar, and a roof reinforcement extending in a vehicle width direction and having a specified first sectional shape is provided at a position just behind the sun roof opening.
In general, it is preferable in the automotive vehicle provided with the sun roof that the sun roof opening be opened up to a position just above a head portion of a passenger seated in a front seat. Meanwhile, the best position of the enter pillar may be preferably set at a position just beside a seat back of the front seat or slightly forward of this position for the purpose of protection of the passenger against a vehicle side collision.
Herein, since it is difficult to interconnect respective upper end portions of the right-and-left center pillars straightly in the vehicle width direction via the roof reinforcement provided at a lower face of the roof panel and extending in the vehicle width direction in order to meet the above-descried conditions, a conventional structure is configured such that an end portion, in the vehicle width direction, of the roof reinforcement is formed to bend so as to be located as close as possible to the upper end portion of the center pillar, and the upper end portion of the center pillar is connected to this bending end portion of the roof reinforcement (see U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0119647 A1). That is, the end portion of the roof reinforcement having an uneven sectional shape is formed to bend forward and downward. This structure is superior in transmitting a load via the portion having the uneven sectional shape which includes ridgelines and grooves and therefore has a higher rigidity than a portion having an even sectional shape, but the bending rigidity may be insufficient because of an existence of the bending portion.
Meanwhile, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-188797, the end portion of the roof reinforcement having a groove portion extends to a front portion of the upper end portion of the center pillar via the bending portion.
The structures disclosed in the above-described patent documents are superior in increasing the rigidity of the connection of the upper end portion of the center pillar and the roof reinforcement, which are offset from each other in the vehicle longitudinal direction, but there is a problem in that in a case in which the distance, in the vehicle width direction, between the roof side rail and the fixing plate as a sun-roof frame member is large, the above-described bending portion may cause deformation easily.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-327284 discloses a structure in which the roof reinforcement provided at the lower face of the roof panel extends in the vehicle width direction roughly horizontally, and the end portion, in the vehicle width direction, of the roof reinforcement and the upper end portion of the center pillar are connected via a gusset. However, the conventional structure disclosed in this patent document has a problem in that the efficiency of transmission of the side-collision load is inferior because the center pillar and the gusset are offset from each other in the vehicle longitudinal direction.